High Frequency Microwave and Antenna Devices based on Transformation Optics and Glide-Symmetric Metasurfaces
Time: Wed 2019-12-11 13.30
Location: Kollegiesalen, Brinellvägen 8, Stockholm (English)
Subject area: Electrical Engineering
Doctoral student: Mahsa Ebrahimpouri , Elektroteknisk teori och konstruktion
Opponent: Professor Nader Engheta, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering
Supervisor: Associate Professor Oscar Quevedo-Teruel, Elektroteknisk teori och konstruktion
Abstract
The new generation of wireless communication networks intends to support data rate of Gbit/s. One solution to make it possible is to move upwards in frequency range to employ the unused spectrum in mm-wave frequencies. This brings new challenges in the design of hardware for the communication networks, namely high free space path loss and expensive manufacturing. In this thesis, transformation optics and glide symmetry are employed to address these new challenges for the design of high frequency microwave components and lens antennas.
Transformation optics provides a systematic tool to manipulate electromagnetic waves in a desired way. In this thesis, this tool has been used to improve the radiation properties of conventional homogeneous three-dimensional lenses and compress the size of two-dimensional graded-index lenses.
Glide symmetry is a subset of higher-order symmetries and is described by a translation followed by a reflection with respect to a defined plane. Periodic structures possessing glide symmetry exhibit interesting properties. In this thesis, four of these properties are explored and possible applications are discussed.
First, it is demonstrated that the first mode in a glide-symmetric periodic structures is significantly less dispersive than the corresponding conventional non-glide structure. This property was employed to design fully metallic wideband metasurface-based antennas. The losses in this type of antennas are only ohmic which make them suitable for high frequency applications. Second, it is shown that anisotropic glide-symmetric periodic structures can provide higher levels of anisotropy compared to their conventional periodic counterparts. This property is employed to design compressed two-dimensional lenses. Third, it is demonstrated that glide symmetry can be used to match the impedance of two vastly different dielectric media in a parallel plate waveguide configuration by enhancing the magnetic properties. This property was used to match the profile of two-dimensional homogeneous lenses. Fourth it is shown that glide-symmetric holey metallic structures achieve a significantly wider stop-band compared to conventional non-glide periodic structures. This property is exploited to design cost-effective waveguiding structures and microwave components at mm-wave frequencies. Furthermore, using this property, a flange design that provides contact-less measurement at mm-wave frequencies is presented.